Pokemon Delta Edition
by Odicy
Summary: This story will be taking place in the Guardia region, a setting of my own design. The concept of a Pokemon Trainer has always been captivating and inconsistent so I'll be looking at it from a solemn perspective. My only hope is to cultivate my writing and tell a compelling story that gradually improves.
1. Chapter 0

Pokémon Delta Edition

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction and I do not own the rights to Pokemon and do not claim ownership over Pokemon. The narrative I tell here is of my own design and is for entertainment and self-learning purposes. I am grateful for the opportunity to use this medium as a learning experience to improve my own writing. I am not monetarily profiting from this, only enriching my imagination.

Update: I adjusted some of the paragraphs and fixed a few errors

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The following events occurred from June 12 to June 20th, 2010

Chapter 0: A Tale from the Past

Guardia was a relatively unruly Pokémon region compared to the others. For a time, there was a clash between ideals similar to that of Unova's conflict, which held Guardia back technologically and ideologically.

When the concept of a Pokémon Trainer was introduced, it became an expectation for youths between the ages of 13-16 to venture out into the wilderness and test their mettle. Other regions have become more lenient about people becoming any type of Pokémon Trainer, but Guardia has a very divisive piece of legislation that enforces youths to at least get 4 badges before being able to bow out of that line of work. It was called the Trainer Enlistment Act, here is an excerpt from this law. "In the event of a foreign hostile incursion, to preemptively maintain optimum forces for those requisites, we qualify and encourage the automatic enlisting of youths to participate in a tradition to uphold our values." Essentially, whether we liked it or not everyone had to become a Pokémon Trainer because of that bullshit law. Of course, like all laws there were some stipulations allowing exemption from becoming a Pokémon Trainer. For instance, coming from wealthy circumstances or, working under the supervision of a government official, just to name a few. That's what I did anyway to get out of that line of work.

So when it came to me, I did my best to get around the system. My name is Jonathon D. Juniper and about a year ago, I graduated from the Marksverd Academy from Vanide City. Two days after my graduation I received a letter on June 14. I had applied to Professor Manchineel to become an aid a month prior for some career assistant application that was required by the school at the Career Help Center. I'd completely forgotten about it and I assumed that it was negligent. I suppose my application form was processed and the half-assed paper I wrote was sufficient enough to get by.

When I told my mother and father about the news, they were less than thrilled. They wanted me to avoid anything that had to do with Pokémon and get a job like a white-collar worker. I'm not opposed to sitting at a desk for a superfluous amount of time however, I did want to see the world at one point of my life.

But the life of a Pokémon Trainer wasn't sustainable, it was dependent on being consistently successful isn't it? I mean most things are, but that's a lot of pressure to bear. From some of the reports from the Guardia Pokémon Centers, they found that an estimated 40% of Trainer related cases were from substance abuse. The other 60% came from malicious Pokémon battles or something of that nature which is to be expected.

I'm not sure how trustworthy some of this information was but I did some research on how to prepare for a journey and came across this information. By cross-examination with other articles, the stats seemed to be gravely consistent. That's why despite my parents' wishes I decided to become an aid for the Professor. I wouldn't have to travel much or involve myself too closely to that lifestyle.

After I got the letter, I got to speak to Professor Manchineel over the PC about what the job entails, what I would be doing, and what his expectations were. I would be temporarily moving into a fairly large cabin with two others in Indreso Village. We would be doing research on Pokémon Evolution which sounded similar to Professor Rowan's work in Sinnoh and Kanto but apparently, he interned under Professor Elm and eventually got into that line of work.

Now three others and I would be interning under Professor Manchineel. Speaking of which, the other two people interning was a boy named Kalvin and a girl named Rue. The Professor said that Kalvin was a Psychic but lacked training. In other regions, Psychics were uncommon, but in Guardia that was almost unheard of. I think there was an Elite 4 member in Guardia that was fluid with their abilities. Apparently, his brain waves had a very high frequency and some contemporaries have even said that he could catch falling boulders with a glance. I wonder if Kalvin could do that?

Rue was also in a similar case with mystical powers, but the Professor said that I should tread lightly around her. Rue's abilities were sensitive and periodically went haywire. Did I say that I had to share a cabin with these two fine folks?

After I got that thrilling piece of news, I thought that maybe I should discuss my new living situation and occupation with my parents. Of course, I assumed that they might protest a bit, just because they were concerned for my wellbeing. Perhaps my mother or father would've suggested to me that I could come home at any point if I felt that it wasn't working, and I could always find something else to do. I didn't have the greatest relationship with my parents but they were decent people just trying to get by. Surely they would respect my decision to aspire for something else, out of their line of sight. That was my expectations and then I would be off in good spirits. I couldn't for the life of me predict the scathing remarks my mother and father would say before I left home for good.

It was a few days before my planned departure. My parents had gotten off work a little early at 7 PM and were sitting at the dinner table. I had rehearsed a few lines and was finally ready to confront them with the information. My mother and father were leisurely chatting, probably about how each other's day were. I stood by the doorframe to the kitchen, trying to grab their attention without saying a word.

My Mother saw this and gestured with a nod to my father to where I was standing. My mother spoke up first, "Jon, did you need something?" Stating it as if I was guilty of a crime. "Spit it out!" accusingly said my Father.

"Dad, Mom" I addressed them carefully. "You know that letter I got from the Professor?" "Yes Jon, the one we told you that you couldn't go?", my mother interjecting. "Well, I…", trying to speak with a firm tone but begin stammering out my words, "got accepted and I'm leaving in a few days… I just wanted to talk about what I would be doing there and…".

"Jon, you're not going, we agreed on that", sternly stated my mother.

Without thinking I raised my voice and said, "I already accepted it and that's my choice Mom."

"Don't speak to your mother in that tone… Jonathon.", saying my full name as if it was a displeasure to do so. My father continued "And that's final, no more discussion."

"Dad, you can't make choices about my life and disregard my opinion.", I said in a burst of welling indignation.

"Jonathon, I'm always saying that if you listen to what I say you'll get by fine in life.", exclaimed my father. He then began clawing his face and breathing very heavily. After gritting his teeth and breathing through them several times, he slammed his fist on the table, catching my attention. "And you know… what you did…", he said slowly as he dragged his knuckles on the table. The room was still as he began to breath heavily through gritted teeth. "You went against our orders and decided to gather both of us to boast about wasting your life being some Professor's bitch!" he took a quick breath and continued. "Didn't I tell you to do better in school and to not waste our time? Did we raise you to be fuck up?" in a very vexed tone.

My mother backing him up shouting, "So, you wanted to throw all our hard work away and become some penniless destitute living on the streets!?"

"That's not what I'm…", I attempted to produce coherent sentences but struggle to find the right thing to say.

Looking to get any leverage, I make a sudden jab at my mother and father's life choices, "I want to see the world before you force to sit at some lousy desk and make me spend the rest of my life on it!". I begin to gasp for air exhaustedly.

"Jonathon Delwell Juniper!", bellowed my father. He proceeded to grab my collar, staring coldly into my eyes. "Go to your room … I can't stand your face right now… I need to cool off …", my father said with an exasperated voice. After a few minutes of erratic breathing he receded back into his chair, letting go of my collar. He leaves his unfinished sentence lingering with tension as if completing it would make him lash out in unimaginable ways. As I walked back to my room into the dark hallway the light illuminating in the kitchen began to get dimmer. Approaching my door, I turned to look at the kitchen seeing my parents bury their faces into their hands. I walked in my room gently closing the door behind me.

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed my backpack off of the ground in the corner of my room and my satchel hanging on the wall. Setting my backpack on my bed, I rifle through my backpack grabbing a neatly folded thick coat. The air was a little bit nippy maybe around 40 Fahrenheit or so. Putting the coat on I realized that I couldn't go through the front door. I also wasn't sure if the ferry was still here at this hour, but I didn't really care.

I rummaged through my satchel to examining the letter from Professor Manchineel for a few minutes to reassure myself. Stuffing that into the coat's inner pocket along with some cash for the ferry.

I tentatively reach for the window in my room opening it slowly to get a blast of frigid air that reinforces my consciousness. I leapt off the window sill dropping about 5 feet. Quietly closing my window, I heard a small successful click.

I covertly dashed to the sidewalk in front of my house and started walking to the Vanide Docks, which was about 20 miles to the south. If I was fortunate, my preemptive escapade would have me at Indreso Port within 2 hours. Unless the ferry was already on its last trip for the day all the way to Avacious Harbor.

I looked back at our small house with our porch light flickering and saw the lights inside being turned off from the kitchen to the living room. I saw my father about to close the curtains and I turned myself away from him to avert his line of sight. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him stand there for a moment as if he were trying to discern something and then closed the curtains.

I took one last glance at our small home and saw the lamp post buzz to life all around our block. I wasn't about to stick around to see the bug Pokémon swarm the light, with that incentive I trudged off into night attempting to catch the ferry.

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Hello there reader! Yes you, with the features of a graceful sculpture. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my story, this is the first piece of writing I've set free to the whims of the internet. So it means a lot to me, that also means that I'm an amateur to the world of writing. So I'm looking for flak. All feedback and criticism is welcome! And I mean everything, give me your worse! Have a wonderful day! (Additionally, I'm not sure how consistent I'll be when it comes to posting these stories but I'm aspiring for every week and a half until college starts again and puts me through ringer! Alright, Later!)


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction and I do not own the rights to Pokemon and do not claim ownership over Pokemon. The narrative I tell here is of my own design and is for entertainment and self-learning purposes. I am grateful for the opportunity to use this medium as a learning experience to improve my own writing. I am not monetarily profiting from this, only enriching my imagination.

I would like to preface this chapter by thanking everyone who read Chapter 0. I was expecting 2 or 3 people to read it but not 20 people! So it's really gratifying that anyone decided to read this story. So thank you so much! I also increased the rating to M. I'm not sure how I'll take this story but this is just to be on the safe side.

Additionally wanted give a few shoutouts to the kind people who gave me insightful advice. So bear with me.

Thank you to **Hybrid of Fate** and **Warhammer** for reaching out to me on how to navigate this site and also for for planning chapters.

I also want to show **Altering Kreation** gratitude for their constructive criticism. I took your advice to heart and decided to redo this chapter. This chapter is a bit of a slow burner but I felt it's necessary to world building. I'll do my best with demonstrating over narrating, I suppose I was trying to sell them as characters without doing anything to warrant that. For the gaps between the paragraphs, my original philosophy was that I was cutting corners by using spaces to spilt the paragraphs. I see what you mean and it gets cluttered really quickly so I'll be sure to separate each paragraph when something changes.

Without further ado, please enjoy the second installment of Pokemon Delta Edition!

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The following events occurred on June 20th, 2010

Chapter 1: Encounters

After walking out of my neighborhood, the sun had finally set. With only the lamp posts as my source of light. I was certain I was heading in the right direction. I didn't have internet on my phone, but I did write down some names of the streets on a sheet paper. I never knew there were so many streets names that had "verd" in them. There was Luverd Street, Gansverd Boulevard, Hunsverd Street, Ryverd Ave and an array of other verd-related streets.

When I was doing research on how to get to the Vanide Docks, apparently verd is an honorary title not a family name. Adding the suffix verd to your name was given to those who took up the mantle of the Guardians. Every time there was a Guardian there was a cataclysmic event, so like the Disaster Pokemon Absol, they were seen as harbingers of death. Each Guardian had forfeited their lives to stop a necessary evil and eventually contemporaries of the Guardians had realized that it was prejudice to accuse a person fated to combat the world's vices. In honor of our protectors, the people named this region Guardia. I knew why it was called Guardia it was on study guide for my finals, my history was a bit spotty though. Speaking of which I finally made it to the front gate of Marksverd Academy. Wait.

Why was I here of all places? As I blew hot air into tent my hands, I was wondering what had made me come up north instead of south. Marksverd Academy was to the North.

That's right, when I turned my head away from my Father, I walked in the other direction so he couldn't see my face. But how were my directions off? That street name sign has the word Luverd Boulevard, it should've taken me south. As I pulled my hands out of my coat's sleeve, I unfolded the paper with all of the directions that should have taken me south. I examined my make-shift map, I had drawn a flow map with thick arrows and lots of circles so I would follow the directions properly.

"See, it clearly says Luverd Ave on the paper I should be halfway there", I exclaim to myself to a prove a point. "That street name sign also says Luverd Boulevard so I'm clearly being deceiv-", thinking for a moment I examine my paper and then back to the street sign. "Don't tell me… that this city has multiple street names that are shared with other roads…", I let out a vexed cry. My parents always drove me to school, but I never bothered to remember the names of the streets. I guess I was paying for it now.

Behind me across the street an irritated voice shouted, "Shut up, I'm trying to sleep here, I got a gym battle tomorrow!". I turned around to see a person on the sidewalk in a black sleeping bag peeking their head out giving me a glare. "Sorry about that!", I respond sheepishly. The person seemed to have accepted my apology and went back under the covers.

Since I went the wrong way I had to turn back. The prospect of waking 30 miles south sounded horrific. It was getting really late and I don't think I had the energy to stay up any longer. I slammed my fist into my palm as a stroke of genius came to me. There was a Pokémon Center just a few blocks around here, maybe I could rest up there for the night. As I said one last farewell to my old academia, I waited for the stoplight to flash the pedestrian crossing symbol.

When I started walking it was around 40 F, it felt like it had dropped below 30 F. The closer I got to the Pokémon Center the more people I started to see in sleeping bags. I didn't know how all these people could bare to sleep outside it was freezing. It started to get even more crowded as I turned around every block. I had to start walking on the street to avoid stepping over the trainers and their Pokémon. After turning one more block, I saw the dim glow of a white Pokeball on a white building with a red roof, the strange part was how the perimeter of the building had nobody around it. As I started to approach the Pokemon Center's doors, inside I saw a person wearing a blue hoodie that was being detained by two large buff men. I stepped to the side propping myself against the exterior of the wall outside the Pokemon Center. I heard the automated doors whirl open and the person in the blue hoodie was tossed out landing on their stomach with a crash.

The person in blue was sprawled on the floor and slowly started to get up saying, "That's right! You better get your fucking hands off of me!" As the person got to their feet, they dusted themselves off and caught me giving an addled stare. "Why are you clinging to the wall like that?"

I thought that was self-explanatory, did he not just get thrown out of the Pokecenter? "Well I saw you being escorted off the premises and I didn't know what for, so I decided to move out of the way", I replied.

The person was stroking their chin, and said, "That's fair, I would have moved too." He took a few steps closer to me, "Were you thinking about staying at the center?"

"Yeah I'm really tired and I was thinking about turning in for the da-", the person in blue interjected, "Don't bother, the Center is at 'Max Capacity' ", the person in blue says with air quotes. "Fucking Guards tossed me out because it's against the law to hold more than 50 people in this Pokemon Center." "They would rather see us freeze to death rather than let us in sleep in the floor.", the man in blue began to sit down but then stood up again with a look of surprise in his eyes. I heard the whirl of automation and turned to see a woman with brown hair short hair in the iconic nurse outfit.

"Look boys you can't loiter around here, you have to go some where else.", the nurse says in a firm voice.

Disheartened I replied, "Where are we supposed to go? The Center is the only that lets you stay for free.", I reached into my coat's pockets and held my ₽1000 fare for the ferry. "This is all I have, and I need this for the ferry tomorrow. Please let us in!" "Yeah you old hag!", added the person in blue.

The nurse gives an exasperated sigh, "Look I'd really let you in, hell I'd let in all the trainers in if I could." She turned her head a bit and nod at the two bodyguards hanging all the way in the back near the PC. "I'm under heavy supervision right now and all I can do is enforce the rules."

I gave her a pleading look, begging for her to let us in. The boy in blue does rolls his eyes and turns his back on us.

She sighs and puts a hand to her forehead. She takes a moment to breathe and reaches into her back pocket pulling out 5 bills. "This is ₽500 dollars, spilt it amongst yourselves, and buy something warm to drink at the Pokemart, ok?", she says in a concerned tone. "I have to go and tend to the other trainers." She then walked back into the center with the doors closing behind her.

"Well that was nice of her", I say to the person in blue. "Eh, better than nothing I suppose", he sighs in defeat. "Let's grab something warm like the old hag said."

We walked around the Poke-center seeing the Pokemart diagonally cross the street, we were doing an errand together, but we were complete strangers. The man in blue taps his foot feverishly, I decided that this would be a good chance to make small talk.

"So, uh how's your day?", this was my attempt at an icebreaker. The person in blue gives me a bewildered look, "How's your day? We don't even know each other names." Not sure how to respond I stand awkwardly.

The person in the blue takes off his hoodie and extends a hand. His hair was messy and a hue of red and purple. He had very visible bags under his eyes with freckles all over his nose and cheeks. "The name's Areson but you can call me Ares." I shake his hand, "My name is Jo-". A car blares its horn telling us to cross. While crossing, he questions, "Your name's Joe?" I wave my hands in front of my face, "Well you can call me Joe but my name is Jonathon. It's a pleasure to make you're acquaintanc-". I see the pedestrian crossing signal countdown from 5 and run across. Ares leisurely takes his time, the car across the street honks and zooms past him as soon as he makes it over. "

One more street to cross and we were at the Pokemart. I pick up the rest of our conversation, "So are you from around here?" Without bothering to look he responds, "Nah, came here to challenge the gym, I'm getting my second badge here." He turns his head and spits before continuing with, "You from around here?"

I nervously glance at him meticulously deciding what to say, "Well yeah" I respond intelligently. "So why don't you just head on home and get to the ferry tomorrow?", the light turns green and we begin to cross. Not sure how to answer that question I tell give him a sincere answer "I don't want to go back home". He nods his head and says ahh, "My bad, didn't mean to pry." We make it across and walk into the Pokemart, with a classic ding following suit. There are all sorts of a coffee machine on the counter, Pokeballs, Potions, a rack of magazines, a shelf of snacks behind the magazines, more snacks racks behind those snacks and other convenient commodities.

As I stand around looking for anything cost-efficient, Ares taps me on the shoulder and handed me a cup of coffee. "Take the Joe, Joe." I gently grab the cup from his hands, "That was fast." Ares begins to sip his drink, "Well you were standing around doing nothing." I waft at the steam; the smell was strong.

He elbows me and says, "What never had coffee before?" I look down at my cup, "Well my parents never let me try it." He turns his head left and right as if he were looking for something, "Well there not here, now are they? Also, if you don't finish it in here your drink in here it's going to be cold real fast."

I take a sip and get left with a bitter aftertaste, but it was warming me up, so I slowly lifted the cup drinking it a little bit at a time until there was nothing left. We toss the plastic cup into small trash bin and walk out getting a full force of frigid winds. "Alright let's find a spot to settle down for the night." "Where at Ares? There's not many places we can get a good night's sleep.", I remark.

"Follow me", we cross the street heading back in the same direction of the Pokecenter but instead of heading down pass the Center we take a turn going behind it, walk straight for a bit, and making another sharp turn to the left. There was an Alleyway with some people and Pokémon in sleeping bags sitting around a garbage can lit on fire.

I apprehensively follow Ares as one of the people stand up, he has green spiky hair that hangs to the right, his Charmeleon was hunched over ready to strike. Ares casually said, "Hey it's me again Fredrick, can my friend and I hang around the fire? I know your Charmeleon is getting really tired with keeping the flame going all night.", Ares pulled out a white Pokeball with red lines at where the Pokeball Lid and base met. "I have my Lideo to keep the fire going in your Charmeleon's stead, all I ask is to let us stay here with you guys.

Fredrick shrugged his shoulders and slumped into his sleeping bad saying, "Alright you keep the fire going, wake me up at 2 AM."

Ares summoned a small Pokémon resembling a quadruped feline like-Pokemon. It had brown fur, round ears, a strange tip on its tail and a red mohawk. Ares gave it a pat on the head and a piece of beef jerky. He picked up the "Lideo" to angle it where it was right above the trash can and said, "Lideo use Ember!" The small Pokemon spat out a small flame and as the flame hit the garbage, the trash can erupted fueling the flame also making it smell even more rancid. I was a bit hungry, but now I lost my appetite.

I sat down leaning onto the wall, yawning. Ares did the same but kept his eyes on the fire, holding his hand above it. When Ares sat, I could see his Pokemon Belt, one with the strange white ball and another I recognized as an Ultra Ball.

I checked the time on my phone, it was 11:04 PM. I had left around 7 PM and now it was 11 PM. It's been a total of 4 hours sense my journey began. I was drifting to sleep but I had to say one last thing. "Hey Ares, is a trainer's life always like this?", I said almost mumbling.

Ares turned his head, "In most places cities with gyms are the worse of it, brimming with trainers waiting weeks to finally get a shot at the gym, even so the gyms don't pull their punches."

My eyes were getting droopy and my body was weary. "Well, thanks for helping me today, Ares. I'm not sure what I've done if I hadn't met you."

Ares leaned over and patted my shoulder, "Just get some sleep, you got a ferry to catch right?" I spoke as I yawned, "Yeah I do."

Using the last of my strength I willed myself to say, "Good Night." And with that I slipped into unconsciousness.

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Hello all you lovely folks out there! Thanks for reading this chapter! This might get a bit annoying but what did you think? Was it too slow, was the dialogue off, did I make a lot of grammatical errors? I'd love to hear your feedback! Even vitriol! Anyway have a wonderful day! See you later!


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction and I do not own the rights to Pokemon and do not claim ownership over Pokemon. The narrative I tell here is of my own design and is for entertainment and self-learning purposes. I am grateful for the opportunity to use this medium as a learning experience to improve my own writing. I am not monetarily profiting from this, only enriching my imagination.

Hi everyone, welcome to the 3rd Chapter! If you've read this far, I want to thank you again. I was looking at the graphs and saw a tremendous spike of new readers. That galvanized me to work harder on this chapter, it's been a slow burner but it felt like I was cheating if I just miraculously skipped ahead without explaining what was transpiring. Next chapter is my attempt to write Pokemon Battles I hope I can manage something like that.

I wanted to show gratitude to my friend **Kung Pho Jr.** for helping me with some huge plot points that will heavily affect the story, looking forward to that.

Sorry to stall just wanted to keep you guys up to date. Please enjoy the third installment of Pokemon Delta Edition!

Update: Fixed a few errors

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The following events occurred on June 21st

Chapter 2: Close Encounters

I was abruptly woken up to a stranger assaulting me. My eyesight and hearing hadn't regained focus yet but there was a person frantically shouting and rolling up my sleeves. I was addled and began to panic swinging my arms and legs wildly. My drowsiness hadn't completely worn off yet, but I heard faint incoherent words, what I could make out was a soft voice saying, "Please… don't… another… case… AED…"

Finally regaining most of my awareness, I found myself rolling in a stack of dirty thrown out papers and some small cylindrical objects. The person who threatening me to roll up my sleeves was the kind brown-haired nurse from last night. What was she doing in this ally and where was everyone else?

If my memory served me correctly there was 5 people sleeping in the alleyway including Ares and me. I didn't know about the other three, but I recalled Ares saying he came to Vanide to challenge the gym. I guess he had already left, I wanted to show my gratitude before I headed off to Indreso Village.

As I got to my feet, the nurse tried to roll up the sleeves to my right arm, but I managed to grab her wrist before she could continue her on-sight physical examination. "Why are you checking my sleeves?", I questioned.

She released my coat sleeves and put her hand to her forehead covering her face. "I'm sorry about that I was concerned for your health and I saw all the syringes and needles interspersed with trash around you and…" I interjected, "Needles?"

I was startled so I must have rolled all the way into the corner of the alleyway next to the dumpster, all the way past the make-shift garbage brazier. There was a small stack of plastic syringes and needles peeking out under the dumpster. All throughout the alleyway was littered with syringes and needles. Under the cover of night I couldn't see a thing.

In an appalled tone I said, "Did you think I was shooting up?" She responded with, "Just let me see your other arm and I'll let you off the hook." I reluctantly rolled up my sleeves and she grabbed my arm it scrutinizing and lifting it at different angles. "Now your legs." I gave her an embarrassed look and rolled up my pant sleeves up to my thighs well as much as I could. She bent down continuing her inspection until she seemed satisfied.

"Could you tell me your name kid?"

"It's Jonathon, ma'am." The nurse extended a hand, waiting for me to shake it, I shook it tentatively. "Didn't mean to scare you Jonathon, the name's Cassidy." She turned around and picked up a full garbage bag, heading to the dumpster in the corner and dropped it in, echoing with a clunk. She pointed at herself gesturing for me to follow her, and continued, "I came to dispose of the garbage stacking up in the Center and I saw you slumped on the floor with all those syringes and needles about, I feared the worse…"

I was a little irritated about being woken up, but she had a plausible reason for doing so. "Yeah, I would have done the same thing Miss Cassidy, I saw a scene like that."

She was about to head up the steps and go through the backdoor to the Pokemon Center but headed out of the alleyway instead. "Actually follow me Jonathon, I'll take you to the Center. I would take you to through back but security cameras and all." Miss Cassidy squeezed her nose and pointed at me, "You should probably come in and wash up, some rooms opened up, and I'm inviting in all the trainers I see around here." I recalled all of the numerous people who were sleeping outside.

As we turned the corner to the right side of the Pokecenter, I asked why she was taking me now if she had rejected our demands last night. "Wasn't there dozens of people sleeping outside because you were at maximum capacity?", I asked curiously. Miss Cassidy put her hand to her chin, as if she was deliberating on how to answer the question. "Those bodyguards that you saw toss out your friend are only here for the night shifts, they report back to HQ in the morning at about 4:00 AM or so."

"The night shifts?" "That's right I saw you working last night, shouldn't you be at home right now?", I said. " Miss Cassidy laughed at my sudden outburst and responded grinning, "That's a good joke kid." I gave her a puzzled look and she seemed a confused for bit until she realized I wasn't being facetious. "Oh, you're serious. Well in that case, you should know that nurses work several days consecutively before we get to go home. In my case I work 3 days nonstop. By 5 PM today I'll be home by then."

As we were about to enter the Pokecenter, she continued, "There aren't many nurses to go around and there are an abundance of trainers and Pokemon we have to take care of." "That sounds inhumane…", I responded softly. She shrugged, "That's just how the system is."

Walking in the Pokemon Center, it was a lot larger than I remembered. Around June 16th was when I came in to use the PC to speak to Professor Manchineel and it was the first time I ever went in a Pokecenter.

There were two large lounges on opposites sides of each other close to the entrance that were occupied by lots of Trainers and Pokemon relaxing. On opposite sides of the building two large sets of stairs the building leading up to rooms trainers could check out a room for free, I'd never been up there before. The lines to the PCs and Healing Station were as long as I remembered. There seemed to be a man behind the counter of the Healing Station who seemed to be overwhelmed over there. While I was glancing over at the struggling man, I spotted a familiar person with unkempt red-ish purple hair wearing a blue hoodie standing in the middle of line for the Healing Station.

I ran up to Ares, getting some uneasy glances coming my way. "Hey Ares!", I shouted excitedly. He turned around and gave me a nod, "So you finally woke up? I was trying to get my Pokemon healed up first thing in the morning and come back to get you as soon as I could, but this is one long-ass line."

I stepped back a little, trying to make sure the other trainers knew I wasn't trying to cut. I remembered that Miss Cassidy was standing behind me patiently and she was about to take me to a one of the free rooms.

"So, listen Ares, Miss Cassidy says that I could freshen up at one of the free rooms that just opened up. At room, uhh." Miss Cassidy interceded, "At Room 18." I continued, "At Room 18, you don't have a Gym Battle or anything in a little bit, do you?"

He shook his head, "Nah not today, I was planning on seeing you off and then doing some training later on today. But listen, after I'm done with this, let me come up to your room and freshen up too."

I quickly replied, "Yeah man no problem, see you in a bit." I turned around and apologized to Miss Cassidy, she didn't seem to care and led me up the stairs on the left. The second floor was enormous, there was two corridors on opposing sides of each other, there seemed to rooms that reached down till the end hallway. On the left side had 25 rooms, which meant that it corresponded with the other side.

Approaching Room 18, Miss Cassidy gave me the room card and said, "I'll be near the entrance at setting up a stand handing out amenities, if you want some freebies just swing by." As she began to leave, I unlocked the door to my room.

Walking in I realized that I was so excited about taking a shower that I completely forgotten to thank her for yesterday and today. I guess I would be seeing her later so I could say it then.

Turning on the lights in the room, it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be the width was about the size three average human beings. There was a small desk and chair with a mini fridge under it and a little small cabinet past that on the left. On the right was a twin sized bed that reached up all the way to the bathroom door.

I took off my black backpack and brown satchel hanging them on the wall. Taking off my thick coat, I took out the letter from Professor Manchineel, and the fare for the ferry laying them all on the table. I grabbed some clothes a wrinkled white tee, a pair of black sweat pants, underwear, a new tube of toothpaste, and my tooth brush. I headed into the bathroom, elated to finally be able to take a shower and brush my teeth.

Coming out of the shower, my nose instantly picked up the smell Miss Cassidy was talking about. I grabbed all my dirty clothes putting in a bundle in the corner, I didn't have anything to put it in so that'll do for now. I grabbed my satchel and pulled out my school planner about the size of a small handbook, I took a look at what I had written down for last week.

_Planner for Sunday June 13__th__ to Saturday June 19__th_

_Sunday June June 13__th_

_-Begin Packing for Pokémon Journey_

_Monday June June 14__th_

_-I got accepted to be an aid for Professor Manchineel (I half-assed the Application Paper and still got in)_

_-Begin packing to temporarily move to Indreso Village_

_-Head to Pokemon Center to use the PC to talk to the Professor on June 16th_

_Tuesday June June 15__th_

_-Double Check Supplies_

_-Talk to the Professor on June 16__th_

_Wedsnesday June 16__th_

_-Talked to Professor about the conditions for the internship, living situation, and expectations_

_-Professor Manchineel registers me into Trainer Database_

_-Recite speech to tell parents about moving into Indreso Village_

_Thursday June 17__th_

_-Triple Check Supplies (Don't forget fee for ferry! __₽1000 and also the Letter!)_

_-Recite speech again_

_-Head to Doctors Office and get pills from Pharmacy_

_Friday June 18__th_

_-Head to Library to read book on how to catch Pokémon_

_\- Recite speech to tell parents tomorrow_

_Saturday June 19__th_

_-Head to Library Again, Find Book on Pokeball Types and Catching Methods_

_-Tell Parents about getting accepted and about moving to Indreso Village_

_-They said no before I get a word in, try again tomorrow_

Looks like I there was only one task I couldn't complete. Turning to the next page that had my lead pencil as a book mark. There was only one thing written on June 20th.

_Planner for June 20__th__ to June 26__th_

_Sunday June 20__th_

_-Give spiel again to parents without being interrupted_

Hmm, well that was unfortunate, but I guess I got an early head start. I needed to get there by the 22nd of June, speaking of which what time was it? I grabbed my phone which was on 82%, it was only 8:32 AM?! That gave me a lot of time to work with, I guess my itinerary was wide open.

If I remembered correctly, there was always two boats at any given time heading from Vanide Docks to Indreso Port to Avacious Harbor and vice versa which took a total of 5 hours. However, I only to get from Vanide City to Indreso Village which took the span of about 2 hours. It only operated 3 times a day.

One at 12:00 PM, One at 4:00 PM and another at 8:00 PM from Vanide City to Indreso Village anyway. I heard that they would spend an hour doing evaluations and maintenance before moving on to the next destination, yay for safety.

I heard a knock on the door and put my planner on the desk. "Hey Jo, you in there? Could you let me in, I would really like to take a shower and maybe a nap?" I opened the door to let in a foul odor invade my nose. Ares was grinning as I open the door saying, "Hey guess what I got?" He pulled out two bags of a very familiar brand I recognized Jill's Tauros Jerky! Hickory Smoked! He tossed me a bag and said, "I bought breakfast, eat up, I'll be in the shower." Ares pulled out two water bottles and put it in the mini fridge. He took his backpack into the bathroom and I heard the water begin to run.

I grabbed my planner off of my desk, I needed to plan the next few hours accordingly. Ares said he wanted to see me off and we had about a little less than 4 hours until the next ferry arrived. I was feeling much better, I could probably make it to the Vanide Docks by 11 by heading there at 10. That meant my 8 AM and 9 AM was free.

I wanted to wash my dirty clothes if possible, I really liked my black parka coat. I wonder if there was a Pokemon Center out there that also operated as a laundromat. I knew there was a laundromat called Deino's Coin Laundromat that was just a little west of Marksverd Academy, that was my routine every Saturday anyway. The only thing I was concerned about was carrying my dirty laundry from the Center all the way to the Laundromat, that revolting odor… Well I could figure that out after I wrote my plans down for the day.

_Monday June 21__st_

_-Head to Deino's Laundromat (somehow without humiliating myself)_

_-Prepare to head to docks by 10:00 get there by 11:00 and head off to Indreso Village_

_-Thank Ares and Miss Cassidy for everyth- _

Something startled me causing to scribble all over that part of my entry and in a panic I dropped my pencil and planner.

Ares surprised me by putting his arm around my shoulder, "You haven't even touched your beef jerky yet! What are you doing?" He peered over my shoulder to see my planner, "My bad Jon didn't mean to make you scribble on your dairy." Ares's red-ish purple hair was still unkempt and it look like he ran his fingers through his hair at different angles to create this even more messer spiky look, He was wearing some brown shorts with a blue tee-shirt.

I bent over to picked up my stuff on the floor, "I'll eat in a bit, just let me finish up writing in my PLANNER." Emphasizing the word planner to hide my embarrassment. I erased my errors and wrote in the last few letters, closing it satisfied.

Ares was already ravenously tearing through his bag of Jill's Tauros Jerky. I opened the bag and began my attack on the jerky. After I finished a few pieces I started to tell Ares about my plans, "Hey Ares, I was thinking of heading to the laundromat after we ate because of obvious reasons, and then heading to the Vanide Docks at 10:00. I just need to figure out how to take my clothes outside without causing a scene…"

Ares was drinking the water bottle he grabbed out of the mini fridge, "I got something for that Joe." He reached into his large backpack and pulled out a foldable laundry basket. "We'll just put them in these, and we can carry it. Plus, I also need to wash mine clothes too, I slept in that ally for two days."

We finished our breakfast and headed down stairs with as little suspension as possible. Heading out the entrance I hadn't seen Miss Cassidy anywhere. I guess they weren't ready to put up that stand yet.

Ares said he hadn't gotten the chance to explore Vanide City yet, he had to set up tedious appointment by waiting in line and then he would have to wait again tomorrow to challenge the gym. Speaking of which, what Pokemon was he going to challenge the gym with?

It was my turn holding the foldable cylinder laundry basket as he handed it to me before we crossed the street. I did my best not to let the basket fall out of my hands as we walked, "What Pokemon are you going to challenge the gym with you had "Lideo" that small lion-like Pokémon in that white Pokeball but what's in that Ultra Ball?", I said with a glint of curiosity in my eyes.

Ares grabbed the Ultra Ball from his belt and flashed a grin at me, "This is my starter Pokemon Pango, I'd show him to you but he's sleeping right now." He gestured his free hand to the white Pokeball, "This is called a Perimier Ball, it looks fancy but it's just a glorified Pokeball the Mart gives you for buying 10 Pokeballs. Inside this one is my little rascal Lideo the Litleo, I named him that because he attacked me and I shouted, 'Oh it's a Lit-deooooo!' as he bit me. Now that I think about it getting attacked is how I came up with their names…" He looked like he was in profound thought thinking about the reasons why he named his Pokemon that way. "Jo, do you have any Pokemon?"

I sheepishly turned away, "No I wasn't allowed to have a Pokemon growing up, I got sick a lot when I was younger and my parents took that as a sign to not have any Pokemon around me."

Ares nodded his head sympathizing, "Did it help at all?" Before I could answer, I saw that we had made it to Deino's Laundromat and told him to get the door as I was the one holding the basket.

Ares opened the door to the Laundromat, and I went in looking for an open washing machine. " I'll buy the packets.", said Ares as pulled out some change and went to buy a packet of laundry detergent and softer from the vending machine.

We sat on a nearby bench next to the window and Ares asked me where I was going and what my intentions were after getting on the ferry. "Well I got my application accepted to be an aid for Professor Manchineel. So, I'll be heading to Indreso Village and living in a cabin with two other accepted applicants there."

He gave me an intrigued expression and leaned forward with hands holding his face and his elbow pushing against his legs. "What does that exactly entail?"

"Our main task as assistants is to assist the Professor with with his fieldwork and paperwork, catch a lot Pokemon and write a lot of papers. We'll be giving the new trainers all the Pokemon we catch and help them if they want it. That's it I believe.", I was thinking if there was anything I left out and the timer for the washing machine went off. "I'll get that Ares."

I began walking to the dryer with the basket of wet clothes putting them in and put the change Ares in, turning around I saw my parents walking into the laundromat. I ducked my head as soon as I saw them and carefully walked to the furthest part of the Laundromat I could.

My parents began walking to the other side of the Laundromat and I peeked out a little hearing my father's and mother's voice alternate as they went from one person to another holding a piece of paper with my face on it asking, "Excuse me have you seen this boy? He ran away from home yesterday and we're gravely worried about him." They said something else, but I couldn't catch what it was.

I dunked as soon as they began walking my way and crouched walk around the row of washing machines they were on the opposite side of repeating their same spiel. I turned to my life seeing Ares across the room facing me still on the bench as my parents approached him from his left. I shook my head and put my hands in the shape of an x rapidly slamming my wrists together to tell him to say no. I went back to hiding behind the washing machines.

My parents went up to Ares and I could barely hear them say, "Excuse us, sorry to bother you, have you seen this young man? We're worried sick about him." Ares turned his head to my parents and tilted his head a little bit looking at the photo that clearly recognizing who that was. "Sorry, I haven't seen him around here."

I had to move around the washing machine as they walked in front of Ares and my mom said, "We'll be heading down the street asking more folks, if you see him tell him to head home and that we're sorry for yelling at him." I heard the chime from the door and took a gander seeing them leaving and maintained my position for a few minutes, then I came out of cover heading towards Ares. "Thanks for covering for me Ares, I thought they had saw me before they walked in."

Ares was silent for a moment and stated, "It's complicated, huh? That's what you said right?" He raised an eyebrow, "I thought you came from an abusive household or something, but it seems like they're really concerned about your wellbeing." "Did you lie to me?", he said accusingly.

That question took me by surprise, and I responded, "It is complicated, I can't stand being coddled for the rest of my life." Ares turned his head away from me softly stating, "I rather have someone taking care of me than just leaving them worried sick."

After our clothes dried, we began to the walk back and it was eerily silent. He hadn't said a word since we were waiting for the dryer to finish. Making it into the center, I saw Miss Cassidy and another nurse setting up a stand with lots of boxes around them.

As I stopped to look, Ares kept trudging ahead going up the stairs. I followed him up and he was already unlocking the door taking out clothes in. I went in the room after him as he dumped out clothes on the bed, folding his elastic laundry basket away into his large backpack. He was shoving his clothes in without caring in his large backpack.

I grabbed his shoulder, "Hey man, is something wrong?"

He looked me in the eyes looking annoyed, "I think you should head back home."

"Why?", I said perplexed.

He sighed and took a seat right next to me on the bed, "They're out there looking for you and I feel culpable telling them that lie. You should go back home with them and reassure them that you're ok."

I had to reason my way out of this, I felt that Ares might have sought out my parents after this conversation if I wasn't treading meticulously.

I sat down next to Ares, "I don't want them to worry about me anymore and I only get one chance to become an Aid, Professor Manchineel said that punctuality was vital. If I head back home now, my parents are going to keep me there until the Guardia government shows up." I grabbed his left shoulder trying to reassure him, "I'm just ripping off the bandage preemptively by doing this."

I was trying to confirm what expression Ares was making, after furrowing his eyebrows and his face twitching for a minute. He suddenly shot back leaning on the bed letting out a defeated sigh. "Fine I'll take you to the docks as I promised, but as soon as you leave I'm going to find your parents and tell them what's being happening to you."

I gave him a relieved look, "Thank you for understanding Ares, I appreciate that."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going to take a nap. Turn off the lights for me, you can use the lamp on the desk or whatever, just wake me up when you're ready to go." Ares grabbed the sheets from under him and threw it covering him up all within a span of a few seconds.

"Sure thing", I went to flick the switch off and grabbed the second cold water bottle Ares put in the fridge. I turned on the lamp, fell into the chair, and drank the ice-cold water alleviated not to have my journey cut short.

* * *

Hello all you works of art, thanks for reading Chapter 2! If you've kept up with this I'm grateful that you decided to stick around! I'm not sure if the drama or the interactions I was going for was well-presented or not, so I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys thought of this. I also wanted to give **Altering Kreation **another huge thanks! Their criticism has change the direction of the story immensely and I hope that I'm incorporating their advice properly. Alright, bye now!


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction and I do not own the rights to Pokemon and do not claim ownership over Pokemon. The narrative I tell here is of my own design and is for entertainment and self-learning purposes. I am grateful for the opportunity to use this medium as a learning experience to improve my own writing. I am not monetarily profiting from this, only enriching my imagination.

Welcome to Chapter 3 of Pokemon Delta Edition! I can't wait to work on the next chapter I can finally get to what I've been envision while coming up with the concept for this story. We'll be seeing some aforementioned characters soon, their dynamic is going to be fun to write!

Without further ado, please enjoy the fourth installment of Pokemon Delta Edition.

* * *

The following events occurred on June 21st

Ch 3: Farewell, Vanide

After neatly folding all my clothes in my backpack and reorganizing my bag, it was about 9:52 AM. It was about time to wake up Ares, after a few grunts and moans Ares got himself ready and it was time to head off.

Walking down the stairs I saw that the stand Miss Cassidy said she was setting up was completed, with a huge sign above them displaying the words "Trainer Relief and Aid Organization", that was new. Miss Cassidy and the other Nurse were next to the PCs and Healing Stations with their back to the walls, there were stacks of unopened boxes behind them.

I could see people crowding around the stand as Miss Cassidy and the other nurse was handing out copious amounts of items ranging from food to clothes to Pokemon supplies.

As Ares and I got closer, we were getting pushed around as I heard Miss Cassidy and the other nurse shout, "Please don't crowd around us! We have enough supplies for everybody just make line up in front of me and Nurse Amelia! We'll wait until everybody is ordinate and situated!"

With that threat looming over everyone, begrudgingly trainers began to make up two lines. Ares and I hastily managed to make it somewhere near middle but got separated into different lines. I guess I would be seeing him in a bit.

The line was a bit tedious and moved at a snail's pace. I checked the time on my phone, 10:02 AM. I wanted to get to the Vanide Docks an hour early by 11:00 to do some sight-seeing. I guess I would have to resign to getting there by 11:30 or so.

After one monotonous wait, I got up to the front of the line by 10:16 AM. "What would you like Jonathon?", Miss Cassidy said in a kind voice. I was trying to figure what this whole "Trainer Rellief and Aid" thing was about it, next to the signs was a logo of a hand holding a Pokeball as if it were offering it to someone. "What is the Trainer Relief and Aid Organization, Miss Cassidy?", I asked.

Miss Cassidy began to turn around and grab a few boxes placing them on the table while she was doing this she said, "It's a Relief Fund that was founded a few months ago and it's sponsored by some of the top Trainers in Guardia. The Trainer Relief and Aid Organization or TRAO is a charity that hosts tournaments around Guardia and all proceeds from the tournament goes to giving care packages to help trainers out. Some of the cities began to endorse TRAO and now they send the supplies to Pokémon Centers to help distribute them."

Miss Cassidy opened up the boxes revealing lots of packaged clothes in one, the other had a plastic bag that had sandwiches, oranges, apples, carrots sticks, string cheese, a brand of healthy chips called Sudowoodo Sticks that did not harvest Sudowoodos, a milk carton and juice carton that varied from bag to bag. In the third box was supplies like potions and shrunken Pokeballs there were recognized there was regular PokeBalls, Great Balls, Friend Balls, Net Balls and some others that had saturated colors I couldn't recognize.

My backpack was already full as it was, and my satchel could maybe hold that lunch bag. Otherwise, I was pretty certain that was the extent of my weight and storage capacity. Miss Cassidy saw me hesitating and began to rapidly place items in my hands.

She dumped a lunch bag, a few Pokeballs, Great Balls, Friend balls, and was about to hand me a jacket but I tried to hand some of the supplies back stating," I don't think I can carry anymore, Miss Cassidy!"

She began to retrieve the jacket folded it back into the box and said," Well you can shrink the Pokeball by holding the button and put them in your pocket. You probably could carry the lunch bag in that satchel of yours and if you're already loaded with clothes the least you could do is take this."

She reached deep into the right corner of the box and put something on my head, almost slamming me onto the table. I should really try to stay out her reaching range, that was the second time Miss Cassidy almost pummeled me inadvertently.

I reached onto my head and felt the accessory Miss Cassidy put on my head.

"It's a visor Jonathon, since you wear that ridiculously huge black coat this won't get in the way, I also thought that this might suit your style.", she said warmly holding up a small hand mirror.

I had to admit she had good taste; the visor was a jet-black except for the a small white Pokeball logo adorned in the middle. It seemed to meld with my short black hair pretty well, I was readjusting it and gazed at myself in different angles until Miss Cassidy said, "All right you Narcissus, you're holding up the line and I still got dozens of these boxes to allocate."

I stuffed the shrunken Pokeballs into my pocket and the lunch bag into my satchel. I stepped out of the way about to walk off and realized I'd almost forgot something. "Miss Cassidy?", I bowed my head," Thank you for everything, I'll be sure to pay you back one day!"

Lifting my head and I saw Miss Cassidy turn around to get grab another stack of Boxes for the other Nurse, "Don't sweat it kid, and good luck on your journey." She put the box down in front of the other nurse and turned towards me, wryly she said the iconic mantra, "We hope to see you again soon!"

"Bye Miss Cassidy and thank you again!", I gave her a wave and began to walk out of the Center, pulling out my planner and writing a check right next to it.

As I headed outside and put the planner away, I saw Ares leaning on the Pokecenter wall, chowing down on the sandwich. Ares took the last few bites on his sandwich and finally saw me standing in front of him. He began to drink the rest of his apple juice letting it hang from his mouth as he tossed the lunch bag in the nearest trash can.

"How did you eat that entire thing so fast there was so much eat in that thing!", I exclaimed.

Ares threw away his juice box and said, "Dude, you were talking to that nurse for like 10 minutes! If anything, I had way too much time to eat everything in this lunch bag." He tapped his watch, "It's 10:20 now, we should probably start heading down now if you want to make it."

I gazed at the placement of the sun, the Vanide Pokemon Center was in western section of Vanide and I was facing the direction of the sun. So, by turning myself 90 degrees to the left that would surely take us south. I had to double check to make sure another incident like yesterday didn't happen.

I adjusted my new visor and faced Ares, "Now that I know that were in the north side of Vanide City, we should head down this way and this will definitely take us south."

As we began walking across the street, Ares raised an eyebrow as if he were questioning my intelligence, "Definitely? I'm having difficulty believing that you actually lived in this town."

As we made our way to the Vanide Docks, I pointed out some landmarks to Ares that I frequented often. There was the Rusto Library named after Vanide's first gym leader in the 1940's who donated his earnings to improving infrastructure and local businesses. Miliverd's Park and Lake a famous landmark that was named after the second Guardian who stood their ground battling alongside a legendary Water Type Pokemon. Eugene's Ice Cream Parlor was a shop founded 15 years ago. Guardia was particularly cold this year, so ice cream wasn't a good business to be in. Thankfully, Eugene salvaged his business by improvising by selling hot chocolate instead.

I'd never been this far south, and I began to see familiar signs that I wrote on the directions for my makeshift map. Gansverd Boulevard, Hunsverd Street, Ryverd Ave and would you look at that Luverd Ave! The street sign stood there as the sun gave it a sheen, as if it was mocking me saying, "How could you have missed me! I've been here the whole time!"

"Jo, you're just glaring at that sign, we got places to be man! We just have to cross and we're at the docks.", Ares began to walk across and after a few seconds I released my glare resentfully following in suit.

It took an hour, but we finally made it to the Vanide Docks at 11:26 with 34 minutes to spare. Vanide Docks is actually a huge port but because of tourism, the most famous part of Vanide Port was the Docks so they gave it that name. To the left side of the port there was many warehouses with different colored shipping containers as high as the sky, the cranes were plucking out shipping containers from container ships. There were about 15 Dock Workers that were handling the cargo and the people getting close to the shipping containers. On the right side of the huge docking zone where ferries and cruise ships usually came to dock, there was a crowd of people that seemed to be circling around someone yelling hoarsely.

As Ares and I got closer to what the commotion was about there was a person that was dressed like with the color scheme of a strawberry. The boy who looked to be my age had green curly hair, a red vest with a black shirt, brown cargo shorts and brown hiking boots. The obnoxious boy was yelling with a Kalosian accent, "Come on cowards?! Anyone else want to step up to the plate?! Come get some!"

As Ares and I got into the circle I could see that we came at the tail end of a battle. There was a person with short brown hair on their knees cradling a presumed fainted Espeon. The boy that was dressed like a strawberry was striking a pose with his right hand in front of his face and his left hand supinated back, his Scyther was steaming a bit but had a menacing grin on its face. The Scyther seemed to be holding the same pose.

The green haired boy turned around, "Well does anyone hold a candle to my Scyther? To Hector Reginold Gardner?" Which I assumed to be his name. He pointed a finger at a few people behind him, and the crowd stepped back even further, as he walked around the perimeter of the inner circle of the crowd, Hector saw me and pointed his fingers at me with another odd pose. His left hand was in a finger gun directly pointed at me and his right hand was lifted above his head also in a finger gun. "Would you like to challenge me little boy?", as Hector said with a smirk.

I was about 5'7 and the guy seemed to be just a little taller than me and also around my age. I might have challenged him if I had Pokémon, alas I did not.

Before I could refuse his request, Ares stepped in front of me, "Alright you bizarre conceited strawberry, how's about you pick on someone who actually has Pokémon!"

"Well I was going to challenge everybody here, but it looks like I found someone with a spine!", Hector said happily as he put a right hand around across his face and his left hand on his waist. "Let me see if my Reggie is ok and then we shall commit to our duel!", the bizarre strawberry boy said as he went to check on his Scyther.

Ares looked perplexed like he was trying figure out Hector. I couldn't blame him I would have a hard time dealing with him too.

After Hector gave a pep talk to his excitable Scyther, they were both rearing to go and both pointed a finger and an arm at Ares who was holding both of his Pokeballs.

Ares seemed to be mumbling something about whether he wanted to use his "Lideo" his Litleo or "Pango" which he said he would've show me if he wasn't napping. The sleeping part made me think of a Snorlax but Ares said he named his Pokémon after trying to pronounce their names only to be cut short by getting attacked. So what Pokémon was Pango? I needed to expand my index of Pokemon.

Ares was deliberating while shaking his head trying to determine which Pokemon he would use. He put his Premier Ball away and tightly gripped the Ultra Ball for a few seconds and said, "Alright Pango its time you actually listened to me again!"

In a flash of light there was a Pokemon that was laying on its side like a Slaking but its coloration was black and white. I was looking at it from the back and "Pango" was mostly covered in Black spiky fur except for its head and stomach that were stark white and also spiky. I could barely see its white fluffy stomach with its black coat of fur that covered most of its back.

"Ever since you've evolved into a Pangoro, you've haven't been listening to me Pango!", Ares said vexed. "Can you at least fight this one battle for me today? You really loved to battle what happened to your fire when you were a Pancham?" Ares's Pangoro was still laying down with its head turned away from Ares.

"Well I guess you'd have to forfeit by default if you're Pokemon isn't willing to fight. Maybe we can find a real challenger who is actually up for a fight.", Hector said dejected. Hector's Scyther pointed at Pango said something along the lines of, "Scy Scy Ther Scy" and turned around.

That seemed to stir something in Pango and as he got up into a fighting position cracking its neck menacingly.

"Alright Pango! We're going to knock this flamboyant punk into next week! Let's go! ", Ares shouted excitedly as his Pangoro roared in agreement.

Hector shouted, "Since I only have my Scyther it's going to be a one-on-one battle! Do you agree to those terms?"

"That facilitates things! Pango let's give it all you got!", Ares clenched a fist in front of his face.

Hector was bouncing on his feet, "Let's do this Reggie, Double Team!" Hector's Scyther spilt into 5 afterimages and began to quickly circle around Pangoro. In retaliation Pangoro attempted to punch one of Scythers. Ares's Pangoro turned its waist and counterattacked landing an uppercut on one the Scythers as it poofed into smoke.

"Now let him have it with Fury Cutter!" The 4 Scythers closed in with its arms glowing green. "Pango flippin with the circle throw!", Pangoro quickly flopped to the ground laying flat on its back as all 4 Scythers ran into each other. Pangoro proceeded to grab all four putting them into a headlock, all Scythers disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving one behind. The Pangoro proceeded to roll back and threw the Scyther into the concrete with a crash.

"Reggie quick attack!", the Scyther ricochet off the concrete and vanished for a bit. Appearing in front of Pangoro landing a clean shot on its stomach pushing Pango a little bit back. Ares swiped the air with his hand, "Pangoro use Work Up!"

Pangoro slammed his foot onto the Concrete surprisingly not cracking and began to bellow as it swung its arm wildly. The crowd was now backing up trying to not get in Pango's arm range.

Hector threw one hand into the air pointing at the sky "Reggie now Quick Attack ascend!"

The Scyther buzzed its large wings and flew at Pangoro in a flash of white light. Ares yelled, "Pango now slash at it!"

Just as Pangoro was about to land the blow, Hector's Scyther soared above Pango heading straight up, the whole crowd all turned their heads up watching as the Scyther was shooting up into the sky.

The Scyther began to slow down and fall, flattening its wings using gravity to increase its velocity. Hector's Scyther was plummeting from the sky with its arms crossed like a glowing green meteorite. Hector shouted on the top of his lungs, "Reggie use Double Team! Maneuver around the Bullet Punch using your doubles!"

As the Scyther was swooping down, it spun in a circle for a second then it began splitting up the Scythers were all diving and rotating around each other in ring formation. Two of the Scythers changed their trajectory and began to fly around Pangoro aiming its sides. The crowd was galvanized, shouting in anticipation.

The other three remaining Scyther were coming at Pangoro like a thriple speeding missile using each other's drag propelling themselves faster. Hector looked up at Sycther crossing his arms in an X, the Scythers seemed to catch this message and all five put their arms in an X with their arms glowing green in the process.

Are's Pangoro stuck its middle finger flicking it back and forth taunting it to attack it, Ares then said "Pango now don't let him pass you! Follow up with a Bullet Punch to cloak yourself in a flurry of blows! The Pangoro was punching so hard it was creating gales adding to the strong winds that Scyther was also creating as it was approaching at Pangoro like a rotating green Twister.

"Now Reggie, with starburst my friend! Fury Cutter from above!", Hector said lifting both of his hands into the air in excitement. All the 3 Scythers in front of Pango vanished, the one coming from the right poofed into smoke as the real Scyther was attacking from the left at Pangoro's exposed side.

While squinting from the severe gust, I saw a glimpse of both Pokemon landing each other's attacks simultaneously, Pango managed to land one bullet punch on Scyther but Pangoro was completely getting the full force of the Fury Cutter. The Scyther somehow made it behind Pangoro. Both Pokemon were heavily breathing, Pangoro landed on one knee and Scyther remained standing.

The air billowed once more and then went still. Hector wickedly smiled shouting, "Now for the finishing touch, with Fury Cutter charged up attack it while its back is turned!" Scyther flew at the Pangoro and brought its arm down on it.

Pangoro turned to the right still on its knees and grabbed Scyther's arm with its large left paws somehow stopping the Fury Cutter by slowly grabbing it. The Scyther seemed surprised and couldn't move its arms as it struggled attempting to futilely fly away. "What happened to my Scyther's Fury Cutter it should have worked!"

"Now! With your free arm Pango before it can get away, One Handed Bullet Punch!", Ares punched at the air as he shouted his command.

The Pangoro gave a smirk, its paws emitted a gray light and Pangoro began punching a flurry of blows knocking Scyther back and forth like a tether ball. After a full minute of Bullet Punches, Ares exclaimed, "Alright its done Pango!" Pangoro halted and let go of the Scyther as it slumped to the ground with a thud.

Pangoro turned around and crossed it arms giving Ares a nod, which he reciprocated. Hector ran up saying to Scyther, "Reggie! Speak to me!", as Hector bent down and gently lifted Scyther's head. The Scyther weakly said, "Scy…. ther…" and fell unconscious. Hector said, "You did good Reggie, now rest…"

Hector pulled out a Friend Ball and returned him in a red flash of light he frustratingly shouted, "Reggie was stacking up those Fury Cutters that last one should have blew your Pangoro back!"

"Pango's favorite move is Taunt, he usually flips the bird to activate it though." Ares patted his Pangoro's arms and said, "Fantastic work Pango, that was a good tactic baiting him into using the move again while you were prone!" Pango grunted sounding like he disagreed with that statement.

Hector dropped to his knees and began pounding his fist on the concrete, "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Goddamn it!"

Ares returned his Pangoro and ran up to Hector grabbing his arms, "Hey, you need to stop before you injure yourself!"

Hector attempted to punch the concrete, but Ares preventing him from doing so. Hector eventually conceded and stood back up. "Sorry I wasn't mad at you I was mad at myself.", Hector says apologetically.

Ares let go of his hand and said, "Hector you were amazing man, I've never seen a Scyther so well trained! Usually Pango squashes Bug Pokémon like an... insect but your Scyther was something else. You were fantastic out there, don't get mad at yourself for that!"

Hector grabbed his left bicep with his right arm and tilted his head forward a bit, "No I wasn't mad at that, I needed the money to pay for the gym fee that's why I was challenging people…" Hector pulled out his wallet and pulled out all the money he had, "I only have ₽1200 and I need ₽2000 for the Vanide City Gym…" Hector seemed to be crying now, "I'm supposed to give you a quarter of my earnings so here's ₽300…" As he turned away Ares grabbed his arm, "Look if you really need the money, I've saved up quite a bit, I already payed my fare for the gym so here's ₽1500. The extra ₽500 was for impressing me with that Fury Cutter Meteorite."

Ares held the money in front of Hector waiting for him to take it. "But I lost the battle, I don't deserve it…", Hector replied defeated. Ares pulled Hector's arm, put the money in his palm, and closed his hand saying,"Well in my book if you learned a thing or two then that's a small victory."

Hector collapsed into Ares's shoulder and began crying into it, while muffled I could hear Hector say muffled, "Thank… you… so… much…" and he descended into bawling. Ares was perplexed and began tentatively patting Hector's shoulder, "Strawberry dude, you're going to get my shirt wet and I just washed it…" Ares was trying to gingerly push away Hector but it seemed like he was clinging to him, "Alright just cry it out man, I'll just wash my shirt again later."

From the distance I could hear a horn being blasted and saw a ferry fast approaching, I guess my ride was here. The crowd began to disperse and were lining up awaiting the ferry.

I walked up to Ares still with Hector sobbing into his shoulder, Ares turned to me"Looks like your ride is here Jo, I guess this is where we part ways."

I was getting a little sentimental and gave Ares a hug, he had watched and cared for a stranger like me without hesitation, despite knowing him for a few days he felt like a very close friend. "Thanks for everything Ares, I'll be sure to pay back your kindness."

Ares was now patting both of our backs saying, "Ok, this is getting out of hand guys, you're both weeping into my shoulder and hugging me, this is too much physical contact. Please stop…"

Ares was trying to nudge me off until he said, "Look the people are getting on the ferry now! If you don't go soon, you'll have to wait for the next one in 4 hours! Hahaha, please let me go."

I released my hug, "I mean it Ares, thank you man."

Ares was trying to rapidly gesture his arm at the boat the best he could, "Hurry up Jo! The last few passengers are getting on; you need to go now!"

I began sprinting towards the line getting there last in line. One of the beefy sailors that was monitoring the line said, "fee and ID?"

I gave him the rest of my money and showed him my High School ID, "Is that the only form of Identification you have?" I pulled out my letter from my coat's inner pockets and handed to him. The sailor was mumbling it as he read the letter, his eyes looked surprised as he got to a certain part of the letter, after finishing it he said, "Oh, I guess that works welcome aboard!

I got up the walkway and ran to the stern of the boat waving at Ares and Hector down below, it seemed like Ares was trying his best to wave at me and also shake off Hector. Eventually Ares somehow convinced Hector to walk with him while still clung onto him, I watched as their vibrant hair faded into the distance as they exited the port.

I heard the sailors hoist up the walkway and a few minutes later the engine roared which startled me. As the boat picked up speed, I tried to grab the rails on the back for balance. All the water kicked up into the air splashing me in the process as the engine was picking up speed, The sea spray was getting all over my face. I pulled down my new visor attempting to avoid the spray from getting into my eyes.

I was once again cold and alone, this was already turning out to be another bad departure.

* * *

Hello to all you amazing readers out there! This concludes the prologue, I'll have to go back and scrub the prior chapters for more errors before I work on the next arc. Thank you to all the readers that have kept up with me for so long, I'm looking forward to seeing your feedback. Have a wonderful day and see you later!


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